Here are 13 simple ways to make life fun and create more joy, happiness, and excitement even in the most boring days.
Life is supposed to be a lot of things, but if I had to pick just three priorities, one of them would be ‘fun’.
It can’t be fun all the time, of course.
There are bills to pay, work to get done, bad moods to sit through, and other random annoying things.
But in between all of that, I think we should be having a pretty good time.
And if that hasn’t been the case for you lately, please don’t take it as a sign that your life is boring or that you need some huge change (like moving to a new country).
You might simply need to start making more room for fun.
I am a huge lover of routines and quiet days, but even I start feeling restless when every week begins looking exactly the same.
Thankfully, you don’t need a huge social circle, an endless travel budget, or a naturally wild personality to have more fun.
You just need to be more willing to create fun instead of waiting for it to land in your lap. Here are 13 ways to do exactly that.
13 Ways To Make Your Life More Fun
1. Start making more plans
If your life has been feeling boring lately, take a look at your calendar. Is there actually anything fun on it?
I am not saying you need to have exciting plans every day, but we all need something to look forward to once in a while.
Ask your friend if she’s free this weekend, make dinner reservations somewhere you’ve never been, plan a picnic, book movie tickets, or pick a date for that outing you’ve been thinking about.
Plans won’t come to you on their own, and this becomes even truer the older you get.
If nobody you know is available, make plans to do things yourself and create your own flow of joy. It’s something I believe every adult should be able to do.
2. Ask yourself ‘why not’?
I am not asking you to become a yes-woman who agrees to every plan even when she’d much rather be curled up in bed with a book.
But if you have a habit of always turning things down, it might be time to challenge yourself.
Sometimes we don’t say no because we genuinely don’t want to go.
We say no because getting ready sounds annoying, the place is far, we don’t know everyone who’s going, or staying inside our usual routine feels easier.
And then two hours later, you’re scrolling through everyone else’s pictures thinking it actually looked pretty fun.
So, if a plan excites even a tiny part of you, try saying yes before you have enough time to talk yourself out of it.
Worst case, you come home early.
Best case, you end up having a brilliant night that you couldn’t have planned if you tried.
3. Try more things you’re bad at
When was the last time you tried something you had absolutely no talent for?
If your answer is “not recently,” I highly recommend fixing that.
You can try pottery even if you suspect your final creation will look like it survived an earthquake (mine sure did).
You can learn how to roller skate, try karaoke, go bowling, paint something, learn a dance routine, or pick up a sport you haven’t played since school.
If every new hobby becomes another thing you have to be good at, the fun will disappear quickly.
But you are allowed to be terrible.
Actually, being terrible can make the whole thing ten times more entertaining because you stop taking yourself so seriously.
I think kids understand this instinctively. They’ll spend an afternoon drawing weird animals and still have the time of their lives.
We could learn a thing or two from them.
4. Make a fun list for your life
Forget the serious bucket list for a minute, and make a list of things you want to do purely because they’d be fun!
Add the cafe you’ve been meaning to visit, a movie marathon you want to have, a new hobby you want to try, a day trip, a cute picnic idea, a theme party, an amusement park, and a train ride.
The ideas don’t have to be impressive enough to belong on some grand life bucket list.
Small plans will be better here because you can actually start ticking them off without waiting for the perfect time.
You can also make seasonal fun lists, monthly lists, and a “things to do when I’m bored” note on your phone.
The next time you have a free Saturday, pick something from it instead of spending half the day wondering what to do and eventually doing nothing.
5. Stop having the same hangout every time
I love a good cafe catch-up and could happily spend hours sitting across from my best friend talking about everything and nothing.
But if that’s the only thing you ever do together, your social life can start feeling a bit copy-paste.
So, make your plans more interesting every once in a while.
Host a baking night, take a painting class, have a picnic, visit a museum, try karaoke, play a sport, and have board game nights.
You could even start a tradition, like trying one new restaurant every month or taking turns planning a mystery outing for the group.
Your friends are already fun to be around. Add an activity to the mix, and you’ll have even more memories to laugh about later.
6. Give yourself reasons to leave the house
You don’t always need an errand, appointment, or important plan to justify leaving the house.
Sometimes you can simply go somewhere because you’re bored of looking at the same four walls.
- Take your book to a park.
- Walk to a bakery and get yourself a little treat.
- Browse a bookstore without needing to buy anything.
- Visit a market.
- Go somewhere to watch the sunset.
- Explore a neighborhood you’ve only ever driven past.
I am very capable of becoming one with my sofa if nobody intervenes, so I completely understand the appeal of staying home.
But I’ve also never regretted leaving the house on a beautiful evening just to walk around somewhere nice.
A change of scenery can do wonders when life has started feeling a little stale, so definitely make a mental note to do this more.
7. Do more things that make you laugh
I know this sounds way too simple and obvious, but I felt the need to add this because I don’t think we’re doing it enough.
One of the easiest ways to make life more fun is to seek things that make you laugh like crazy.
You can watch fun movies, follow comedians you actually find funny, play silly games, send stupid memes to your friend, rewatch a sitcom, twirl around, and spend more time with people who bring out your unserious side.
Laughter changes the energy of your entire life.
You can have a very normal week and still remember it as a good one because you laughed a lot.
That feels worth prioritizing to me!
8. Create little challenges for yourself
Not every challenge needs to involve drinking two liters of water, waking up at 5am, or building your dream life in thirty days.
Some challenges can exist solely for entertainment.
You’ll find many happiness challenges and self-care challenges on Pinterest, or you can create them for yourself.
Decide that you’re going to try four new cafes this month, have one solo date every week, or cook food from five different countries.
Watch a classic movie every Friday, or visit ten places in your city you’ve never been to before.
I love giving myself little missions like this because they make life feel less repetitive without requiring any major changes.
There’s a childlike joy to doing challenges like this, combined with the grown-up energy because the scope is bigger, which makes it worth trying.
9. Slow down, please
Slow living might not seem like something that belongs in a post for a fun life, but it very much does.
You cannot really experience the richness and fullness of life unless you are slowing down when you need to.
When you are on a trip, you must slow down by walking more slowly, choosing fewer spots to see, and sitting down to take in the breathtaking views.
For your everyday life, slow down by indulging in hobbies like knitting and journaling. Spend time in nature, and go on cozy walks that have nothing to do with counting your steps.
When you are having an awfully hectic day, you can steal fifteen minutes with your coffee in a quiet spot, and just breathe in the silence.
This kind of fun will be full of peace, contentment, and joy, and it will stay with you far longer than the fun of a rowdy party.
10. Have more themed days
I don’t need much convincing to give something a theme.
If you tell me it’s a regular movie night, lovely. But if you tell me it’s a 2000s movie night with nostalgic snacks and a matching playlist, I am suddenly ten times more interested.
You can build the theme around a movie, book, country, season, color, food, or literally anything else that sounds fun.
Have a cozy reading day, a picnic afternoon, a French cafe morning, a spooky movie night, a childhood nostalgia day, or a tourist-in-your-own-city adventure.
And no, you don’t need to buy a cart full of decorations or turn it into a full-blown event.
A few small touches are more than enough to level up the vibes of the plan.
Everyone’s life needs more unnecessary themes, and I will happily stand by that statement.
Related post to read: 21 Special Things To Do To Romanticize Your Life
11. Be unapologetically excited about things
I have never understood why being enthusiastic is considered uncool. If something makes you happy, be excited about it.
If you love fantasy books, talk about them. If you’re excited about Christmas in November, start playing the music.
And if you’ve found a hobby that makes you super happy, go all in for as long as the obsession lasts.
Decorate for your favorite season, wear the themed outfit, buy the soft toy, make friendship bracelets with your friends, and throw a Halloween party even if everyone attending is well past the trick-or-treating age.
Trying to appear detached from everything sounds exhausting to me.
I’d much rather be the person who gets way too excited about pumpkins, pretty weather, books, tiny traditions, and the music I’m currently loving.
Being easily delighted makes life more fun. Simple as that!
12. Keep going to new places
One of the reasons traveling feels so exciting is that everything around you is new.
You’re looking at the streets, noticing the buildings, wondering what’s around the corner, and paying attention in a way you rarely do at home.
But you don’t necessarily need to travel far to get some of that feeling. Start exploring where you already live!
Go to a restaurant on the other side of town, visit a garden or museum you’ve never seen, take a day trip somewhere nearby, or get on a train and spend the afternoon somewhere different.
I especially love train trips for this because even the journey feels like part of the outing.
You can get yourself a window seat, bring snacks and a book, and feel like an adventurer.
Keep giving yourself new things to look at like this. It makes life feel much bigger.
13. Make fun a priority
This is probably the biggest one, hence the reason I saved it for last.
We put work on our schedules, right?
We make time to exercise, run errands, clean the house, attend appointments, and deal with all the adult things that always need our attention.
But fun usually gets whatever time is left over. And sometimes, nothing is left over.
If you keep waiting until life becomes completely calm before you do enjoyable things, you’ll be waiting forever because there will always be something that could use your time.
So, make fun part of the plan.
Keep a free evening for your friends and have one exciting thing planned for the weekend.
Take the occasional day trip, and use your leave to actually take a break instead of hoarding it like precious jewels.
You don’t need to be irresponsible with your time.
You just need to stop acting like having a good time is somehow less important than everything else. It will make the biggest difference.
Go Make Your Life More Fun!
I don’t believe you need an extraordinary life to be someone who has a lot of fun.
You just need to stop waiting for other people, perfect circumstances, or some future version of yourself to make things interesting.
Be the one who makes plans and says yes when something genuinely excites you.
Explore new places, have themed days, get bad at random hobbies, spend more time with people who make you laugh, and don’t be afraid to do silly things.
Most importantly, figure out what you find fun.
Maybe you’re happiest dancing at a crowded party until midnight, or maybe your idea of an excellent Saturday involves a bookstore, a long train ride, and disappearing into a fantasy novel.
Both sound pretty great to me.
Fun isn’t supposed to look the same for everyone. You simply have to find your version of it and make sure there’s plenty of it in your life.
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